Kate Moss doesn’t do interviews. “Never complain, never explain” has been the publicity-shy model’s mantra throughout her 25 years at the top of fashion modelling. But, as her career branches out into styling for Vogue, running her own model agency and working with Japanese skincare brand Decorté, she granted me a rare chance to talk beauty over afternoon tea. I wasn’t expecting the legendary party girl with a devil-may-care attitude to politely refuse a glass of champagne and extol the benefits of daily workouts and occasional juicing, but here we were. As she sat, her glowy face all smiles and giggles, dressed in a leopard sweater and chic black flares, Croydon’s most famous export revealed just how she maintains her iconic looks.

On eating healthily...

“Food is really important. I try to eat healthily. And I do cook, but not as much as I’d like to because I’m busy, but I cook a good roast. I do good breakfasts – eggs are my forte. I really enjoy food, proper food, but I do try to eat more healthily than I used to. I think as you get older you have to. When I was young I was so low maintenance I didn’t have to worry. Not what I ate, not about anything really. My skin looks better when I eat well, too. Obviously if you eat all that grease, skin just doesn’t look as healthy. I’ve really noticed an improvement since I’ve been more ‘on it’ with food – like eating salads and all that stuff – I never used to really eat salads. And now I’m like, juicing!”

On sleeping in her makeup

“My skincare routine is really simple. I couldn’t be bothered with loads of products and I’d get them all mixed up and not know what I was doing. I haven’t got the time or the inclination to sit there for ages, putting creams on my face. I need it to be effective and quick. I’ve been to bed in my makeup on occasions but I wouldn’t make a habit of it, not now. You can always tell the next day. It’s not a good look.”

On wearing sheet masks while watching telly …

“Regardless of whether or not I’m working, I just do the same thing all the time. I’ll do a cleanser and a serum and a moisturiser and that’s it. That’s all I need. I’ll sometimes do those gorgeous sheet masks while watching telly. I had one on last night for today. Like a good girl, in bed, with my face mask on for work.”

Kate Moss at the Elite model agency party in 1993. Photograph: Richard Young/Rex Features

On embarking on a gym routine …

“I’ve never been a gym bunny or anything like that. I was always, like, ‘UGH’, it made me feel ill, but now I’ve actually started working out, I’m really quite into it. I’m at very early stages, but I’ve joined a gym and all that, and it’s made me feel really good. I worked out for an hour every consecutive day for a couple of weeks and it was enough that I really started to see the benefits, which I’d never really done before. I always thought ‘this is agony, I’m not coming back. This is torture’. But this time I just kind of pushed through. I honestly lost an inch off my waist in about 10 days. Now I really enjoy it.”

On taking a low-key approach to hair styling …

“My hair takes a battering at work. I’ve got a great colourist (Nicola Clarke at John Frieda) and she is key – she’s saved it really. I don’t really do any moisturisation or hair treatments or anything. I’m very low maintenance with hair. I’m not really there yet. Makeup, I love. Even more when I’m not working. I like doing my own makeup and playing. I love a dark eye, love makeup generally. I just like dressing up. It’s a passion of mine.”

Kate Moss in Paris in the 1990s. Photograph: Geoff Wilkinson / Rex Features

On being a social media refusenik …

“Social media is just not me. I’ve never really liked it – that whole thing of ‘look at me!’. For me, the more privacy the better, not telling people where I am and what I’m doing. All that is the opposite of what I want to do. I suppose that makes people more interested, I don’t know, but I certainly don’t do it for that reason. It’s not a game plan. I just have to live by my own rules.”